CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong spiked his helmet as he crossed first after grounding out to Luis Arráez to end the fourth inning.

It was one of those days offensively for the Chicago Cubs.

The few opportunities they had with runners in scoring position, the team did not cash in.

The Cubs paid the price for the lack of clutch hitting in a 3-0 loss to the San Diego Padres in Game 2 of the National League wild-card series Wednesday at Wrigley Field.

“They’ve got a great pitching staff,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “They’ve been doing this all year and every time we play them it’s been a battle. Obviously expect the same thing tomorrow with their best stuff against our best stuff.”

The teams head to a decisive Game 3 on Thursday after the Cubs were limited to four hits by Padres starter Dylan Cease and relievers Adrián Morejón, Mason Miller and Robert Suarez.

“Dylan Cease is a good pitcher,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That’s what makes him tough, he’s a competitor, they’re whole staff is. That’s why they’re here. I thought the at-bats were still pretty good. Just a little bit of a lack of execution.

“But that’s what we’re here to do, to face the best, go make them work. We got the bullpen in a pretty early stage of the game. That’s always going to be a positive thing. Just come back tomorrow.”

Their best opportunities Wednesday came in the third and fourth innings.

The Cubs trailed 1-0 when Swanson led off the third with a single against Cease. With one out, Swanson advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Michael Busch hit a liner back up the middle, but the Padres had shortstop Xander Bogaerts positioned perfectly. The shortstop snagged the line drive, and Swanson had to dive back to second just ahead of Bogaerts reaching the base.

Nico Hoerner lined out to center to end the inning.

The Cubs attempted a two-out rally in the fourth, beginning with Seiya Suzuki’s double to left. The Padres intentionally walked Carson Kelly and then made a pitching change, replacing Cease with Morejón.

Crow-Armstrong stepped into the box as the crowd of 41,083 chanted “PCA! PCA! PCA!” Morejón threw four pitches to Crow-Armstrong, three of them sinkers. Crow-Armstrong grounded the third sinker to first base, where Arráez fielded the ball cleanly and won the race to the bag for the final out of the inning. Crow-Armstrong took off his helmet and tossed it to the ground.

“He’s a competitor and wants to come through in each and every moment that gets presented to him,” Swanson said.

A bounce didn’t go the Cubs’ way in the sixth when Hoerner’s hard grounder back up the middle bounced off Morejon’s foot and went to Arráez for an out. Hoerner had another hard-hit ball in the eighth against Suarez, but right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. made a running catch to end the inning.

The Cubs didn’t have much success against Miller in the seventh and eighth. At one point, the right-hander reached 104.5 mph while striking out five of the six batters he faced.

“That’s another really good arm,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Throws 104 and throws a lot of sliders with that. Changing speeds like that. When you have 14 mph, 15 mph, sometimes 16-17 (mph) off his best pitch, that’s always going to be tough.”

Kyle Tucker singled with one out in the ninth against Suarez, but Suzuki grounded into a game-ending double play.

“The consolation today was we pitched really well in the back half of the game,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “They used Morejón and Miller multiple innings, and even Suarez multiple innings. Those are good arms. That is what they’ve done to the league all year.

“Those are tough at-bats, plain and simple.”

And plain and simple, the Cubs and Padres are in win-or-go-home territory.

“Got to continue to play defense, got to continue to make good pitches and be opportunistic with the moments you do get,” Swanson said. “You saw today, with the (Padres’) ability to take third on a stolen base and get a sac fly (in the first inning).

“It’s about being opportunistic and not missing pitches when you get them.”

©2025 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.